WORSHIP

^[p. 34] WORSHIP

Exodus 4: 29 - 31; Exodus 12: 25 - 27; Exodus 34: 5 - 8; Exodus 33: 10

I have in mind to speak about worship, and I have selected my scriptures from this book so that it may become clear that worship is intended by God to mark His people from the outset, that is, from the time of one’s conversion, and that each may understand that it is not merely for those who have advanced in the truth but for all. Hence we find that, in the gospel of John, it enters into a conversation between the Lord and a woman, who had in herself no moral right to speak about such a holy subject, but she did speak of it; she introduced it into the conversation, evidently because her soul had been reached, the Lord, having spoken to her in a prophetic way, had brought her sins to her mind, and, as the sequel shows, she had begun to judge them, she had begun to repent. It is to this very thing she alluded in speaking of Christ afterwards, that He had told her all things she had ever done. It was therefore in no perfunctory way that she introduced the subject of worship, nor did the Lord, who knew it well and who continued the subject in a most exalted way, deter her at all. In no way did He indicate to her that it was not for her to speak of such a holy subject so early in her contact with Him; it was quite apropos. No doubt if she came into fellowship and into service later, as doubtless she did, she would shine in it. She would not be behind in her part in that service for she was one of those as to whom it is said that their conscience is purged from dead works to serve the living God. That is the end in mind. So also with another notable case contemplated by the apostle Paul in his letter to the Corinthians — an unconverted man or an ignorant man coming into the christian assembly and coming under the power of the prophetic word. He would ^[p. 35] be convicted, the secrets of his heart would be made manifest, and he would fall down, the apostle says, and worship God. It is as if it would be the first thing after he was convicted of sin and judged himself. In truth the gospel is the light of God; it brings God into a man’s soul, with the result that normally there is an immediate response to God. If there is not, the fault is with the person who professes to believe; something is holding him; there is some reserve. Alas! it has to be owned that it is so with most of us. How slow we are, after we profess to receive the light of the gospel, to respond in the fellowship of God’s Son, and of His death and of the Spirit, in the worship of God. Many put if off for weeks, months, or even years — whereas God is looking for an immediate return.

We see another case in the tenth cleansed leper, who was a Samaritan. There was an immediate return on his part, but not with the nine. They failed to return to give glory to God. But one returned; he fell down and gave glory to God. It was an immediate reaction from the light of the gospel, the light of God entering his soul.

All these instances illustrate what is in mind, and why I have turned to Exodus. It is the initial ministerial book, typical of our exodus from the world and it covers the exercises as we are leaving, in fact, before we formally leave. This book contemplates that there should be response to God as His light comes to us. There may be young ones here who have never thought of worshipping God, though they may say they confessed the Lord some time back. The word would be for all such, particularly that they may delay no longer, that they may see that God is looking for immediate reaction, not a matter of weeks, months, and years, but an immediate reaction from the word of the gospel received in the soul.

^[p. 36] The gospel narratives furnish many more instances than I have mentioned, and Exodus would elucidate the point, as I hope to show, not only as to young believers, but in Moses himself, the great mediator and deliverer, under God, of His people; he worshipped, too. The passage read in chapter 4 contemplates the reception of the ministry of God. Moses and Aaron appear as the ministers of God acting together, for it is an important thing in service that the servants who minister are of one mind, able to act together. Two are always better than one, even in service; and so, if there is to be this unity in service on the part of those who are qualified to serve in a special way, the history of Moses and Aaron must be looked into. We see God’s great concern about them, particularly Moses. What a history his is! It is a history from his infancy. Not so with Aaron. We hear nothing of him until he is about eighty-three years of age. Not that he did not have a history with God, but the Spirit of God passes over it until he is about to enter the divine service, and then God tells Moses about his brother. He knew more about Aaron than Moses did, I am sure, and it is well for all those who serve to understand that God knows all about us, that He would put us together and help us to serve together. He would tell one about another — some good thoughts about him. The Lord does that if we wait upon Him about fellow-servants. He would give us to understand just what each one is and how he is to be regarded; it is important that we should understand each other and have an exercise to come to a right judgment of each other; God would give it to us for He intends His servants to work together. So He says to Moses, “Is not Aaron the Levite thy brother?”. He is called a Levite before Moses, not simply because he was of the tribe of Levi, but he evidently had the characteristics of a Levite, known to God. No one ^[p. 37] can serve God unless he has those characteristics, “Is not Aaron the Levite thy brother? I know that he can speak well. And also behold, he goeth out to meet thee; and when he seeth thee he will be glad in his heart”. That is a fine commendation for God Himself to give of one servant to another, and we need these commendations, and shall get them if we ask God about them; but even if we do not ask we will get them as we are open for them.

The meeting takes place on the mountain of God, which is another important point to be observed, because the mountain of God refers to the place of divine reserves, and servants have all to go there. We all get our supplies from the same source. And there was an expression of affection between them. Aaron was three years older than Moses and would thus be at a peculiar disadvantage, indeed Moses would be too, because age enters into the calculations of servants. The older we are the more apt we are to make much of our age; it is a part of our capital and we do well to discount that capital; it becomes a test to servants when such disparity exists between them. But the affection is here between Moses and Aaron, and expressed too. Moses had the lead; God never overlooked that. There was no one like him in God’s mind at that time, “My servant Moses”, He says. When Aaron and Miriam questioned him later there was no one like him, one to whom God spoke face to face as a man speaks to his friend. But they were of one mind here, and according to what God said, and Aaron spoke to the people. God had said, “I know that he can speak well”. And so in our verse it says, “And Aaron spoke all the words that Jehovah had spoken to Moses”. Moses received the communications; they passed through him, for there is only one mediator. He was the apostle, the one through whom the messages came, and how many there were! It would be ^[p. 38] an interesting matter to count up the number of messages that Moses received from Jehovah, I suppose every message added to him in a moral way. He would not grow weary of receiving them. They came from between the cherubim on the mercy-seat. Moses tells us that he heard a voice speaking to him from there. He always had access there, I do not say that all the messages came to him just there, but still, that was the principle. And Aaron was his spokesman; at least, at the beginning. God says, “I know that he can speak well”. So that good speaking is important in the service of God; not eloquence, of course, the mere putting together of words, nor gesticulations, but such speech as is suitable for divine communications. Hence we find that Paul, as compared with Barnabas, was the chief speaker, although some rivals of his at Corinth said his speech was contemptible. Still, according to certain records, he and Barnabas “so spoke that a great multitude of both Jews and Greeks believed”. Stress is on the speaking. So here. Moses and Aaron gather the elders together. They move rightly, and we are told that “Aaron spoke all the words that Jehovah had spoken to Moses, and did the signs before the eyes of the people”. And then it says, “And the people believed. And when they heard that Jehovah had visited the children of Israel, and that he had seen their affliction, then they bowed their heads and worshipped”. How pleasing that would be in a gospel meeting! We hear of a hundred being converted, or fifty, or twenty-five, but countings are not very certain. How delightful it would be, and what an evidence of the genuineness of the confessions, if each one bowed his head and worshipped! What a sight it would be! And why should this not be so? Is not the message today greater than what we read here? Think of the full declaration of God in Christ set out in the gospel, testifying to His love and to His ^[p. 39] righteousness. His righteousness toward the believer and upon the believer. Think of the righteousness of God coming upon a wicked person like the woman of Samaria as believing the testimony; and think of His power known in the soul — for in truth that is the order in Romans; it is the righteousness of God, the power of God, and the love of God. The righteousness is in chapter 3, the power in chapter 4 and the love in chapter 5. Is that not enough, as genuinely received into the soul, to move the soul to worship? I think so. And each of us may well question himself as to whether it has been his history. Is it true of me that I worship God? It may have been observed as I read these passages that it is not said that they worshipped God; the point is they worshipped. The thing is so manifest; there is no need to say that they worshipped God. It would be well for us to look back on our histories, and compare our present state of soul as to whether we really do worship. These people worshipped; they bowed their heads and worshipped. The light had come to them through these servants. First it says that they believed, and then, “when they heard that Jehovah had visited the children of Israel, and that he had seen their affliction, then they bowed their heads and worshipped”. I am not attempting to preach the gospel, but I do wish to impress upon everyone and myself too, the immediate intended effect and reaction of the gospel in the soul of the believer — that I might be characteristically a worshipper, purged and sanctified by the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

Well now, the twelfth chapter is an advance on this. It is a question of redemption and the passover. The Levitical thought comes in again. The account of the passover, as given by Jehovah to Moses, takes up twenty verses in this chapter. Moses, in giving it to the people, reduces it to something like seven or ^[p. 40] eight verses. He does not leave out anything that should be mentioned, but he introduces things that Jehovah did not mention at all. He is a true Levite in this service, and if there is one thing that should affect us, it is the desirability of brevity — to be brief without omitting anything that should be said, just saying what is needed. So he speaks of using hyssop and a bason, which Jehovah did not mention, according to the record; and then he speaks about what their answer to their inquiring children would be; “It is a sacrifice of passover to Jehovah, who passed over the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt when he smote the Egyptians and delivered our houses”. He makes a point of that — delivered our houses. And you can see how suitable that is because it is the children that are in mind. This is not a Sunday-school matter; it is the great servant Moses who was faithful in all God’s house, who is speaking here. He is speaking about children. He is anticipating that children will enquire about the passover. It is lovely to think of it in a spiritual sense, how, in Israel’s history, children would enquire about the passover lamb and the ritual of the passover. What did it mean? One can understand a child of four or five asking his parents, ‘Why was it necessary to kill the lamb?’. What an opportunity for the parents to bring home to such a child, in the youthful period of life, what the meaning of that passover lamb is — “For also our passover, Christ, has been sacrificed for us”, we are told. What a lesson that is to teach children — “our passover”. The children are included, for everyone in the house is included. The children are holy, we are told in 1 Corinthians 7. The children of believers are in a sphere where they hear of the most holy things. It enters into the make-up of the household that the parents include the children in these things — “our passover, Christ” — children and all. The children were included in the provision ^[p. 41] of the manna, too. There was to be an omer for each one in the house. If the parents had eight children, then there would be ten omers. You can understand a child saying, Why should I have the same amount of manna as my father and my mother? Well, what an opportunity of bringing the children into the thing, of leading them on in a most spiritual way; for it is a question of their affections and interests. They can be led on to the most exalted things in a holy way. In the book of Joshua it was anticipated that they would ask about the twelve stones that were set up at Gilgal. Here Moses says, ‘our houses’. One can understand how two children — neighbours, for the idea of the nearest neighbour is contemplated in this chapter — speaking to each other about what had happened in the celebration of the passover. How lovely it would be to listen to such a conversation! What happened in your house? one might ask. And what happened in your house? the other would ask. Well, one may say, Jehovah passed over our houses, both yours and mine. We are sharers alike in this wonderful deliverance so that we are no longer bond-slaves in Egypt. They were not likely to forget their bitter experience in Egypt, their hard toil at the brick kilns. What rigour! what utter want of consideration in the Egyptians towards them! But now they are about to be delivered out of it, for that is all included in what the passover signifies. They are to tell of the way Jehovah “delivered our houses”! And so we are told that when they heard this they bowed their heads and worshipped. They did that. They had not heard this message before; it was the first time they had heard it, and it effected a wonderful state in their souls. That is the point I would endeavour to show, that this matter is not for the more advanced brothers and sisters; it is initial; it is the immediate reaction to the gospel in the believer’s ^[p. 42] soul. If it be not so, then his conversion is questionable.

Now in chapter 34 they heard the mediator himself. This is a wonderful scene. Moses is alone in it; not even Joshua is with him at this second ascent of the mountain. It is a scene that is set down by the Spirit of God to affect all readers; to inspire us with the desire to have first-hand relations with God. Paul said, for instance, “... whether we are beside ourselves, it is to God”. This is not a matter for children, exactly. They can hear about it and enquire about it, but it is a matter for spiritual persons. Moses represents an advanced believer, one in the service of God in a very distinctive way. He had just vindicated God in the presence of all Israel, encouraging the people to be for God, and he brought about conditions of worship as I hope to show; but I am not speaking of that at the moment. I am speaking now of Moses — a man who had effected so much for the people and for God. He is fully owned of God. He had desired to see Jehovah’s glory. How delightful that was to God! “Show me thy glory”, he had said. God would gladly have done so, but the times did not permit of it; it was not opportune. I suppose God kept this in mind as to Moses until on the mount of transfiguration. God would never let it out of His mind that here was a man intent upon seeing His glory. God buried that man! What He must have thought of him! Satan wanted his body, but Michael contended for it. Moses’ body was protected, as every believer’s body is. But God signalised His servant in that oft spoken of incident in the New Testament — the mount of transfiguration. Moses was there! You say, Was he there in his body? I am not saying that. You say, Is it possible that all the departed saints are being used of God? I am not saying that. I would contradict anyone who would say that. But Moses was used of ^[p. 43] God. Elias was used of God after he died. He was on the mount also. Others, who had been asleep, are said to have come out of their tombs and entered into the holy city and appeared unto many after Christ’s resurrection. You say, Where are they? I do not know. I am confident that God is looking after that, whether in the body or out of the body. God allows us certain glances into the unseen, but we must not attempt to go further and force things. God would say, Leave all that with Me. As regards Deity, God has come out in manifestation, but let us not intrude into the things which are beyond us; we have not seen everything. Even as to angels, we know but little. There is more revealed than we can understand. Let us give ourselves to what is revealed, for it belongs to us and to our children. And so God brought Moses into that glory scene on the “holy mount”. Whether it was in the body or out of the body, we do not know, but God brought him there. It was a simple thing for God to do. Moses sought to see God’s glory, and so we see how he was given to appear in glory himself, fully equal to the position. He and Elias were speaking to Jesus “of his departure which he was about to accomplish in Jerusalem”. What an honour it was!

Well, Jehovah said to Moses, “I will make all my goodness pass before thee ... and I will take away mine hand, and thou shalt see my back parts, but my face shall not be seen”. We see God in Christ. The glory of God is in the face of Jesus Christ. But do we bow down every time we see that? And do we worship? One often thinks of the writer of Psalm 119, how he got up through the night: “At midnight I rise up to give thanks unto thee” (verse 62). He was not simply doing it lying down on the bed, which would also be accepted, if done reverently, but he got up through the night. I think God is looking for that in us, that there should be this kind of movement with ^[p. 44] us, that He should be thus in our hearts. So that if it be a meeting of this kind, or whatsoever it may be, when God speaks and shows Himself in any way, there should be immediate reaction in the sense of praise and worship, for He deserves it.

Well now, Jehovah came down and stood by Moses: “And Jehovah came down in the cloud, and stood beside him there”. How beautiful that is, yet it is not at all beyond us. If we understand the assembly at all, we will see that it is not beyond us. The great thought of the house of God was disclosed to Jacob. In the first vision which he had, Jehovah appeared above the ladder, but in the second vision in Bethel, Jehovah came down and stood beside Jacob. That is the great principle that runs through; God draws near. He loves the idea of nearness. He comes near to us, but then, He would have us to get nearer to Him. And so in Hebrews, we have, “Let us approach”. Why not? We have access into the holiest “by the blood of Jesus, the new and living way which he has dedicated for us through the veil, that is, his flesh, and having a great priest over the house of God, let us approach with a true heart, in full assurance of faith, sprinkled as to our hearts from a wicked conscience, and washed as to our body with pure water”. Hebrews 10: 19 - 22. Why should we not draw near? Everything is provided to make us suitable to draw near. Jehovah came down to Moses. He would be near. He descended in the cloud and stood with Moses there, and He passed by and proclaimed, “Jehovah, Jehovah God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy unto thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but by no means clearing the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children’s children, upon the third and upon the fourth generation”. This is what God proclaimed. It does not go as far as the gospel ^[p. 45] does in our day. Nor does it at all touch the mystery, which was hidden in God even then. But it says that “Moses made haste, and bowed his head to the earth and worshipped”. Think of what is available to us week after week, through one and another, by God’s Spirit sent down from heaven. What unfoldings there are! But what is our reaction? What are our services? It is a matter of God showing Himself. In chapter 24 God called Moses and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of the elders to go up and worship, but here God came down in the cloud and stood beside Moses. For us this would be moral elevation; God comes near and shows Himself. And then the reaction — Moses worshipped! Anything less than this in assembly service is wanting; anything short of reaching God is wanting. He is to be worshipped. Not that Jesus is not to be worshipped; He is to be worshipped, of course, for He is God. He is to be worshipped even in a mediatorial sense. But then God is the great objective in service. Any service that does not reach God is wanting, and God wants completion in our service. Moses made haste, and bowed his head to the earth and worshipped. Think of a person coming into the service of God, pretending to serve God and yet leaving without worshipping Him! God is the great Objective in His house. The Lord Jesus makes that plain in all His ministry, and especially in the epistle to the Hebrews. And I may say here that, in order to understand the gospels, we must understand the epistles. We must learn from the epistles; the truth for us is in the epistles. The ministry of Christ is universal, not only relating to the assembly but to Israel, for He is to rule over the nations, and they are all to be gathered together before Him, according to the gospels. The epistles are narrower. We approach the gospels through the epistles to see what applies to us, and as I was saying, the Lord makes it plain in the ^[p. 46] epistles that God is to be worshipped. Paul says, “To us there is one God, the Father, of whom all things, and we for him; and one Lord, Jesus Christ, by whom are all things”. There are things said about Jesus, in the mediatorial sense, that are also attributable to God. For instance, Jesus made everything — “by whom are all things” — but then in other similar passages it says of God, “of whom are all things” — all bringing out in wonderful perfection and variety the deity of Christ. But when we come to distinction of Persons, the Father is the supreme Object of worship, and the Mediator will never be satisfied until He brings the people to God. Moses led the people out to God. And here he “made haste, and bowed his head to the earth and worshipped”. It was an intelligent action, and he made haste to do it.

In chapter 33 we see how conditions for worship had been established in the presence of idolatry. The tabernacle had been taken and pitched outside the camp. Joshua remained inside the tent, a spiritual element, as it were, maintaining the position. And then it says, “And it came to pass, when Moses went out to the tent, all the people rose up, and stood every man at the entrance of his tent, and they looked after Moses until he entered into the tent. And it came to pass when Moses entered into the tent ... Jehovah talked with Moses. And all the people saw the pillar of cloud standing at the entrance of the tent; and all the people rose and worshipped, every man at the entrance of his tent”. Now the tent door is not properly the place of worship; not that it is despised, for it does not seem so here. The place of worship was established outside the camp — pitched outside, and it was there that God came down to speak to Moses. What a scene it was! Think of a person remaining in his own tent when such a glorious scene was opened up to him! We are told, in verse 7, that “every one which sought ^[p. 47] the Lord went out unto the tabernacle of the congregation, which was without the camp”. If there is any one here who is still in the camp, he is missing this. I am not denying that there may be worship in your heart, though in very cloudy circumstances, but your place is outside the camp if you are a christian. Do not stay where you are a moment longer. God has established a place where He is to be worshipped. It is outside the camp, and if there is one here who is in a human organisation, a man-made religious system, the word to you is in verse 7. “Every one which sought the Lord went out unto the tabernacle of the congregation, which was without the camp”. That is where to worship properly; that is where God came down and spoke to Moses; that is where Joshua remained. He did not depart from the tabernacle.

May God bless these thoughts to us!